AUSTIN (KXAN) – The longtime corporate attorney of controversial radio host Alex Jones was taken to court Wednesday for allegations that he intentionally misrepresented Jones’ business InfoWars LLC over the course of his defamation lawsuits.
Jones has lost several defamation lawsuits – including one last August – after claiming the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, which left 20 children and six adults dead, was a hoax. Jones claimed the mass shooting at the Connecticut elementary school was staged by crisis actors to justify the government taking away firearms. In total, Jones has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion so far.
Attorney Mark Bankston, who represented two parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook, filed the motion against Eric Taube, saying Taube acted in bad faith during the lawsuit and made multiple knowingly false statements in court. Bankston said Taube should be disciplined and pay sanctions for the alleged intentionally false statements.
Bankston and his team allege Taube said in court that InfoWars, LLC, had no assets, personnel, or operations and had nothing to do with the InfoWars intellectual property.
“Suddenly, InfoWars sent themselves into bankruptcy and did it by making claims that were 180 degrees opposite of what Mr. Taube had said. Once we started investigating that, we found out that Mr. Taube was actually personally involved in setting up these businesses,” Bankston said.
It is Jones’ other company Free Speech Systems, LLC, which is thought to be the organization running the popular alt-right website. Free Speech System, LLC, filed for bankruptcy last summer.
Bankston alleged through evidence he presented in court — including an email chain he was on with Jones’ ex-wife Kelly Jones in 2007 — that Taube personally helped Jones set up InfoWars, LLC, and said that it has assets Taube was aware of.
“We brought evidence to the court showing that [Taube] had made false statements. Under our disciplinary rules, if you make false statements to the court with intent to deceive, that’s a disbarrable offense, meaning that we allege that they shouldn’t take his law license,” Bankston said. “Further, that he should have to pay all the attorneys fees for the unnecessary work he caused to the plaintiffs.”
Taube testified in court that at the time of making those statements, he considered them to be true. He continued to testify in court Wednesday that InfoWars LLC has no assets.
“The biggest problem I have is that InfoWars representatives never tell the truth,” Travis County District Cout Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said Wednesday.